Parking brake light
The parking brake (handbrake) is applied. FMVSS 101 lists it as “Parking brake applied”, identified by the words “Park” or “Parking Brake”; UN R121 gives it a P in a circle between two arcs.
Red
What to do
Release the parking brake fully before moving off. If the light stays on after you have released it, or flashes, do not keep going on the assumption that it is a bulb fault — electric parking brakes report their own faults on this lamp in make-specific ways, so check the manual.
Makes differ: what this light means on your car, the other colours it may use for the symbol and what the car wants you to do are set by the manufacturer, so your car's owner's manual is the authority.
- Symbol
- Circled P between two arcs
- Colour
- Red
What the colour means
Red — “danger”
The colour code that UN R121 points to (ISO 2575, paragraph 5) is sold, not published. The EU wrote it into law for two- and three-wheel vehicles in Directive 2009/80/EC, Annex I, 2.1.4: “red: danger”. FMVSS 101 does not define colour meanings, but S5.5.6(b) says a telltale for which red is required must not be cancelable while its underlying condition exists, and note 4 to Table 1 allows red to be red-orange.
Where the regulations list it
| Rule | Row | Colour it sets |
|---|---|---|
| FMVSS 101 | Table 1, “Parking brake applied (for vehicles subject to FMVSS 105 or 135)” — telltale, words “Park” or “Parking Brake” | red |
| UN R121 | Table, item 28 “Parking brake” — tell-tale | see UN Regulations 13-H and 13 |
FMVSS 101: Passenger cars, multipurpose passenger vehicles, trucks and buses sold in the US (S3). Table 1 gives the symbol or words and, where one is required, the colour of each telltale; Table 2 lists identifiers with no colour requirement. UN R121: Cars (category M) and light goods vehicles (N1) type-approved under the UN 1958 Agreement, which includes the EU, UK and Japan (para 1). Its table gives the symbol and colour of each tell-tale; note 2 says the symbols are substantially identical to those of ISO 2575:2004.
Good to know
- If a car uses one lamp for several brake conditions, the rules require the general brake symbol or word instead of the P (FMVSS 101 and UN R121, note 9).
Other red lights
Sources
- eCFR — 49 CFR 571.101, Standard No. 101; Controls and displays (current text) — checked 2026-09-23
- govinfo — 49 CFR 571.101 in the Code of Federal Regulations, 1 October 2025 edition (Tables 1 and 2 as printed) — checked 2026-09-23
- EUR-Lex — UN Regulation No. 121 (01 series), Official Journal of the EU L 5, 8 January 2016: table 'Symbols, their illumination and colours' — checked 2026-09-23
- Directive 2009/80/EC, Annex I, point 2.1.4 — the tell-tale colour meanings as written into EU law (for two- and three-wheel vehicles) — checked 2026-09-23
Meanings are written in our own words from these public texts, not quoted from ISO 2575, and were checked on the date shown.